European Officials: Baltic Undersea Cables Cut in Apparent Act of Sabotage

European Officials: Baltic Undersea Cables Cut in Apparent Act of Sabotage

The last time we reported on the Baltic Sea, the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline had been destroyed in an explosion. The system was destroyed, and while “state actors” were blamed, investigative teams in the region did not identify any.

Now, amid increasing tensions involving Russia’s change in nuclear warfare policy after Biden blessed the use of American-supplied longer-range missiles by Ukraine, comes reports that two undersea telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea have been severed in recent days.

European officials indicated that they believed Russia was behind the sabotage.

Russia is suspected of orchestrating another major act of sabotage in Europe after two key fiber-optic data cables running below the Baltic Sea were cut off in quick succession earlier this week, government officials said.

A 135-mile internet link connecting Sweden’s Gotland Island and Lithuania stopped working on Sunday morning, and a similar 700-mile-long cable linking Finland and Germany ceased to operate the following night, according to government officials and telecom operators.

Swedish police started a preliminary sabotage investigation on Tuesday with assistance from the coast guard and the armed forces, the country’s police authority said.

German and Finnish officials have expressed deep concern about these incidents, supporting the proposal that they may have been intentional sabotages rather than accidents.

While the exact causes of the incidents are still being investigated, Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he believed it was likely sabotage.

”Nobody believes that these cables were accidentally severed,” he told reporters on Tuesday morning ahead of a ministerial meeting in Brussels, Belgium. “We have to know that, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a hybrid action and we also have to assume that, without knowing by whom yet, that this is sabotage,“ Pistorius said.

His comments came after the foreign ministers of Finland and Germany said in a joint statement on Monday evening that they were “deeply concerned” about the severed cable between their nations, and raised the possibility of the incident being part of a “hybrid warfare.”

“The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times. A thorough investigation is underway,” the statement continued. “Our European security is not only under threat from Russia‘s war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors.”

⚡️"The two damaged data cables in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Germany and Sweden and Lithuania were not an accident – it was sabotage," said German Defense Minister Pistorius. pic.twitter.com/YAkk4W26FS

— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@front_ukrainian) November 19, 2024

Hybrid warfare is a military strategy that combines conventional military tactics with unconventional methods, including irregular warfare, cyber operations, and psychological warfare. In this case, the move would disrupt communications without openly declaring war.

I would be remiss if I did not include reports that Denmark has seized a Chinese vessel in the wake of this incident.

BREAKING:

The Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3 has been chased, intercepted, and boarded by Danish Navy vessel Y311 Søløven after the Chinese vessel destroyed 2 undersea telecom cables linking Finland-Germany and Sweden-Lithuania.

The vessel sailed from Russia & the captain is Russian pic.twitter.com/gRJ3rxobBC

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 20, 2024

The U.K. newspaper Financial Times reported that investigators of the severed cables are looking into the movements of the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, which was en route to Egypt’s Port Said from the Russian port of Ust-Luga. Social media reports said that the vessel had a Russian captain, although this has not been independently confirmed.

The Yi Peng 3 had passed close to both cables around the time each was cut on Sunday and Monday, according to maritime tracking group Marine Traffic. The vessel was then followed by the Danish Navy, according to open-source intelligence analysts.

“Ship suspected of damaging comms cables x 2 in Baltic Sea has been detained by Danish Navy,” posted OSINT account auonsson on Bluesky, which tracks vessels in the Baltic. The post said that it was “anchored just outside Danish territory with patrol/dive Y311 SØLØVEN vessel guarding her.”

The sabotage damaged the cable connecting Lithuania and Sweden, which accounts for about one-third of Lithuania’s internet capacity. However, traffic was restored following the interruption, likely due to rerouting through alternative connections.

The C-Lion1 cable, the sole direct connection between Finland and central Europe, experienced a complete disruption of all fiber connections. This damage disrupted communication services between Finland and Germany, though the full extent of the impact is still being assessed.

Russia rejects the premise that it has been involved in sabotage, yet Western officials have implicated the nation in planting incendiary devices in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Western security official told NBC News this month that Russia was responsible for sending two incendiary devices to DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the U.K. in July as part of a wider sabotage campaign to possibly start fires aboard aircraft bound for North America.

The head of Britain’s intelligence agency, MI5, said last month that Russia’s GRU intelligence service was on a mission to generate “sustained mayhem on British and European streets.”

Finland and Sweden have joined NATO in the past two years, bolstering the alliance’s eastern flank in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly rejected Western countries’ allegations that it is orchestrating a sabotage campaign in Europe.

I suspect tension is going to rise even higher in the near future.

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